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DENTON DALEY REMAINS UNBEATEN

Daley remains unbeaten

By IAIN COLPITTS - bramptonguardian.com

By his own admission, Brampton cruiserweight Denton Daley was a little rusty Saturday night in his first professional boxing match in over a year. However, the judges who scored the fight didn’t feel that way. They awarded Daley, 29, with a unanimous decision victory over Benito Quiroz of Mexico at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

TRADING PUNCHES. Brampton cruiserweight Denton Daley (left) gets tagged by Mexico's Benito Quiroz last night during a six-fight professional boxing card at the Hershey Centre. Daley won by unanimous decision and remains undefeated with a 5-0-0 record.Photo by Iain Colpitts

All three judges scored the fight 60-54, meaning Daley, who remains undefeated with a 5-0-0 record, won all six rounds. “I had to get the rust out and (Quiroz) kind of shook it out of me so I feel good,” said Daley, who trains at Boxing by Syd, under the tutelage of Syd Vanderpool in Kitchener. “We knew that (Quiroz) was tough just from watching tapes of him. He could take a punch all day, but I didn’t think he’d last that long.” Prior to Saturday’s bout, part of a six-fight card presented by United Boxing Promotions and Hennessy Sports, Daley’s last victory came on Feb. 4, 2011 against Taylor Bull in Barrie. Since then, he’s struggled to find fights due to management conflicts. Daley hit Quiroz with several thunderous shots through six rounds and left his opponent with welts and bruises over his left eye. Quiroz (6-2-0) didn’t inflict much damage on Daley but was able to stay on his feet for all 18 minutes. “The game plan was to go after him and try to get him out of there in the fourth or fifth round,” Daley said. “If I had a couple more rounds, I definitely would’ve dropped him because I saw his eyes were starting to shut and he couldn’t see my right hand coming.” Daley now has his sights set on winning a Canadian championship, a goal he expects to achieve by the end of 2012. He’s currently ranked fifth among Canadian cruiserweights according to boxrec.com. In the main event, Mississauga’s Samuel Vargas and Montreal’s Manolis Plaitis battled for the Canadian welterweight championship in a fight that didn’t last long. Vargas, 22, caught his opponent along the ropes on several occasions and landed powerful combinations en route to a first round knockout. The fight last two minutes and 49 seconds. “I just saw my opportunity and I took it,” said Vargas (9-0-1) “He came out really strong but I figured him out quickly. I could feel his shots and they were heavy, but he didn’t really hurt me in anyway.” A few minutes after the fight, Vargas was confronted by Ahmad Cheikho, who he defeated in the Boxing Examiner’s fight of the year last October at the Hershey Centre. Cheikho, who was forced to surrender after suffering a hand injury in the fourth round, requested a rematch, but Vargas said he has to prove himself with more wins before they fight again. Middleweight Brandon Cook of Ajax defeated Brantford’s Chris Aucoin by unanimous decision in the co-main event while Brazilian middleweight Michael Oliveira improved his record to 17-0 with a unanimous decision win over Estonia’s Sergei Melis in a special feature fight. In other undercard matches, Toronto lightweight Ibrahim Kamal stopped Denmark’s Tommi Schmidt 1:26 into the first round and Hamilton lightweight Steven Wilcox won his professional debut via second round knockout over Quebec’s Nicolas Valcourt.